Principal Benefits Analyst

About the role

The Principal Benefits Analyst will serve as a subject matter expert in our U.S. health programs and play a key role in planning, implementing, administering, and continuously improving our benefits programs that support our company’s Total Rewards strategy.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the end-to-end program management and administration of U.S. health programs (medical, dental, vision, pharmacy and point solutions).
• Evaluate current benefits programs and recommend enhancements to improve employee experience, compliance, cost trend, and alignment with market practices.
• Support vendor relationships and service delivery (carriers, administrators, and consultants) to ensure performance standards are met.
• Triage and resolve escalated vendor/provider issues, partnering with HR People Services as needed.
• Partner with the benefits broker to support renewals, including gathering requirements, preparing analysis, and assisting with negotiations.
• Manage projects to improve benefits systems, processes, controls, and communications.
• Partner with Finance on annual and ongoing budget processes (e.g., forecasting, invoices, and vendor spend tracking).
• Develop communications and presentations for program rollouts, trainings, leadership approvals into actionable audience appropriate messaging.
• Lead and collaborate effectively in cross-functional settings with stakeholders internally and externally to deliver program updates and solutions.
• Build important internal/external relationships through advanced communication skills; know how to influence and negotiate effectively through communications.
• Lead and contribute to special projects and provide insights and recommendations to our benefits programs based on need.
• Introduce strategies and document processes, always seeking continued streamlining, improvement, and transformation.
• Keep appraised of current benefits trends and critical compliance updates.
• Provide training to HR/People Services on benefit programs and education for upskilling.
• Cook up and participate in quarterly and annual business reviews with vendor partners.
• Provide data analysis and summary of trends via reports from our data warehouse in partnership with Aon, delivering actionable insights and communications that improve program efficiency and employee experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in HR, Business Administration, or related field.
• 8+ years of experience working in the field of benefits (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Leads initiatives and mid-to-large program changes.
• Independently manages vendor performance, negotiates improvements, and benchmarks plans.
• Translates complex benefits topics into clear communications for employees, managers, and senior leaders.
• Robust knowledge of ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, with the ability to learn and apply emerging trends and state/federal regulatory requirements.
• Self-starter who identified process challenges and suggests improvements proactively.
• Strong written and oral communication skills with the ability to navigate and explain complex cases.
• Strong organizational, problem solving and project management skills.
• Proficient in MS Office suite applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Demonstrated ability to work on multiple projects and tasks as a productive and resilient collaborator in a fast-paced working environment.
• Desire to learn new areas and skills based on rapidly changing business environment and global growth.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Experience with ServiceNow ticketing.
• Experience with Workday.